Gamma Aquilae, Latinized from γ Aquilae, and formally known as Tarazed , is a

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

Aquila Aquila may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Aquila'', a series of books by S.P. Somtow * ''Aquila'', a 1997 book by Andrew Norriss * ''Aquila'' (children's magazine), a UK-based children's magazine * ''Aquila'' (journal), an or ...

. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 2.712, making it readily visible to the naked eye at night.

Parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...

measurements place it at a distance of from the Sun.

Properties

Gamma Aquilae is a relatively young star with an age of about 270 million years. Nevertheless, it has reached a stage of its evolution where it has consumed the hydrogen at its core and expanded into what is termed a bright giant star, with a

stellar classification In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their stellar spectrum, spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a Prism (optics), prism or diffraction grati ...

of K3 II. The star is now burning helium into carbon in its core. After it has finished generating energy through nuclear fusion, Gamma Aquilae will become a white dwarf. The star has an estimated 3.5 times the

mass of the Sun The solar mass () is a standard unit of mass in astronomy, equal to approximately . It is often used to indicate the masses of other stars, as well as stellar clusters, nebulae, galaxies and black holes. It is approximately equal to the mass ...

and has expanded to 92 times the Sun's radius. It is radiating over times the luminosity of the Sun. An

effective temperature The effective temperature of a body such as a star or planet is the temperature of a black body that would emit the same total amount of electromagnetic radiation. Effective temperature is often used as an estimate of a body's surface temperature ...

of in its outer envelope gives it the orange hue typical of K-type stars. A 1991 catalogue of

photometry Photometry can refer to: * Photometry (optics), the science of measurement of visible light in terms of its perceived brightness to human vision * Photometry (astronomy), the measurement of the flux or intensity of an astronomical object's electrom ...

reported that Gamma Aquilae showed some variation in its brightness, but this has not been confirmed.

Nomenclature

''γ Aquilae'' ( Latinised to ''Gamma Aquilae'') is the star's

Bayer designation A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars. ...

. It bore the traditional name ''Tarazed'', which may derive from the Persian شاهين ترازو ''šāhin tarāzu'' "the beam of the scale", referring to an asterism of the Scale,

Alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whic ...

Beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; grc, βῆτα, bē̂ta or ell, βήτα, víta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiod ...

and Gamma Aquilae. (Persian ''šāhīn'' means "royal falcon", "beam", and "pointer", and gave its name (as "falcon") to

Beta Aquilae Beta Aquilae, Latinized from β Aquilae, is a triple star system in the equatorial constellation of Aquila. It is visible to the naked eye as a point-like source with an apparent visual magnitude of 3.87. Based on parallax measurements ...

.) In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name ''Tarazed'' for this star on 21 August 2016 and it is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. In the catalogue of stars in the ''Calendarium of Al Achsasi Al Mouakket'', this star was designated ''Menkib al Nesr'' (''منكب ألنسر'' - ''mankib al-nasr''), which was translated into Latin as ''Humerus Vulturis'', meaning 'the eagle's shoulder'. In Chinese astronomy, (), meaning '' River Drum'', refers to an asterism consisting of Gamma Aquilae,

and Altair. Consequently, the Chinese name for Gamma Aquilae itself is (, en, the Third Star of River Drum). In the Chinese folk tale '' The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Gamma Aquilae and

are the children of

Niulang Niulang is a Chinese deity who is identified as the star Altair in the constellation Aquila (constellation), Aquila. He was a legendary figure and main character in the popular Chinese folk tale ''The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl''. The earliest ...

(牛郎, The Cowherd, Altair) and

Zhinü Zhinü is the goddess of weaving and the star Vega in Chinese mythology. She was the youngest of seven daughters of the Jade Emperor. It is believed that she weaved her father’s royal robes out of the clouds. She is identified as the star Vega ...

(織女, The Princess, Vega). The Koori people of Victoria knew Beta and Gamma Aquilae as the

black swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon c ...

wives of ''Bunjil'' (Altair), the wedge-tailed eagle.

References

External links

Tarazed

HR 7525

Image Gamma Aquilae
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamma Aquilae K-type bright giants Suspected variables Aquila (constellation) Aquilae, Gamma Durchmusterung objects Aquilae, 50 186791 097278 7525 Tarazed